Oikaisuvallan

Oikaisuvallan refers to a concept in Finnish administrative law concerning the power of a public authority to correct its own erroneous decisions. This power allows an administrative body to amend or revoke a decision that has been made incorrectly. The purpose of oikaisuvallan is to ensure that administrative decisions are lawful and fair, and to provide a swift remedy for errors without necessarily requiring a formal appeal process.

The scope and conditions for exercising oikaisuvallan are typically defined by law. Generally, an authority can exercise this power if it discovers a clear factual or legal error in its own decision. This might include mistakes in assessing evidence, misinterpreting the law, or procedural errors. The decision to be corrected must usually be an administrative one that has not yet become legally binding through the expiry of appeal periods or through an appeal process.

Oikaisuvallan is distinct from the formal appeal procedures available to citizens, such as appealing to a higher administrative court. While an appeal is initiated by the party affected by the decision, oikaisuvallan is an initiative taken by the authority itself. The exercise of oikaisuvallan is often discretionary, meaning the authority is not always obligated to correct an error, but it should do so if the error is significant and its correction is justified in the interest of lawful administration. The procedure typically involves the authority reviewing its own decision and issuing a new decision that corrects the error.